Skill Order

Champion Matchups

Introduction

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

I'm iPlay Nuke and play on EU-W!

I am playing a very agressive game and will detail on how to play Lissandra as a glasscannon because that fits best my stile. I' ll also give in depth information about how to use her spellkit and how to behave in every moment of the game.

I am a caster player with over 5k games overall on all of my accounts together. I only play on EU-W and PBE and mained Caster since I chose to work on playing every champ out there as a caster if he is designed for it or not. You will find me playing AP Garen or Rammus in mid lane besides playing standard Caster like Ahri, Morgana etc. This allows me to have a good view on how to build champs as casters.

I definetly like the influence I can have as a solo laner to the other lanes. I prefer playing a 1vs1 because I am very aggressive and tend to overextend. This is compared with a really risky playstile a "high risk - high reward" situation. I always calculate for the maximum amount of possibilities and will thus sometimes go in and when my team hesitates i'll die. if not it can easily be the turning point in a close to lost game because of that one ALL in.

This is my second guide on solomid.net but I've written a lot of guides before, but mostly only for my Clanmates. You will be allowed to add me ingame for questions if you dont like to post below or I am unavaible for unknown reason. We will also be able to discuss this guide or general playstile in TS3 or skype if you want. Just message me here or ingame.

I am definetly open for suggestions but will defend and argue based on my point of view. This build is designed for my playstile and my Lissandra is working out this way really well (played her since release on PBE and already got several penta kills in the past couple of days also 2 on live server atm).

My playstile is not working for everybody and i dont have a secret mixture or hidden recipe on how to get to dia 1 or something like that but I just feel that some guides on solomid.net aren't just as detailed as I like to see them. We definetly have already a couple of Lissandra guides but i feel that those arent really good so i decided to give a quick overview for you since i can copy some stuff from my other guide and you still have some pages to read and not just a build and thats it.

I might sound arrogant to you but it is definetly not wanted, I just lack the skill to let it sound as i intend to so just forgive me my bad english skills and try to figure out what I am talking about and if you cant just ask me in the question section below.

But now let us start off into a quick overview about Lissandra the ice queen!

Champion Spotlight

Runes

This Runeset is designed to give you 10 Mpen aswell as some armor penetration for early - mid game harass. If you just rely on Spells use mpen on marks and 3 mpen on glyphs + 6 ap/lvl glyphs.

Why hybrid pen? Because it gives you a lot more dmg early game and also makes it easier to last hit.

Manareg Seals for obviously easier mana management, frees you from building that athenes crap item (sorry but i absolutely hate it and buy it in 1 of 100 games).

AP / lvl for obvious reasons and FLAT AP on Quints for more boom.

Masteries

21 0 9 for obvious reasons. The only discussable point is the summoner spell mastery in offense instead of 1% cdr. Can be exchanged and I sometimes do it but I like to spam her spells so CDR isnt a bad choice either. Rest should be standard stuff.

Summoner Spells

Explanation:

Ignite Flash is my basic build. I wont exchange it unless i play against: Veigar (prefer cleanse there), hard cc team, or a 1shot carry who might go and zone you (can consider heal / barrier) or if you will roam all day for whatever reason / u are used to play with it -> go ahead take TP

For all people asking why to take flash just watch this:

You can exchange them but I will not discuss another playstile covered by other summoner spells! Be reminded that every item and every spell and even the champ you pick, the enemy team picks and your own teams picks determine another playstile. You can't be successful if you go 1 single straight route. I will try and cover as many situations as you may experience but even I havent experienced everything yet and wont be able to help you in some situations so in that case its just practice and experience you made on your own and the choice of adepting to every step made in the game.

Skills

Passive: Iceborn

Explanation:
A quite weak passive compared to other passives in the league something like Xeraths passive or Vlads would benefit Lissandra a lot more because her spells except E are quite low range and a little more tankiness wouldn t be bad. But changing it would probably make her be an OP pick while she just atm is a high risk - high reward champ. This passive is useful though and frees you from building additional manareg items and you can just rely on blue.

Q: Ice Shard

Explanation:

Her Q is her bread and butter skill. Lowest cd, low base range, medium skillcap to hit it and quite some dmg. Max it first.

W: Ring of Frost

Explanation:

I max the w 2nd starting to take it at lvl 4 because i want an early escape spell because i feel that most enemy junglers just hate on me :). Quite a lot of dmg and very useful skill.

E: Glacial Path

Explanation:
Her escape skill. Dont get baited into using it offensively unless you are sure to insta kill the enemy and escape afterwards. Even so check if the jungler is around and dont just go reckless mode. You are a short range squishy, 1 stun can kill you so keep this spell ready, when it s on cd play more passive (farm and back off, farm and back etc)

R: Frozen Tomb

Explanation:

AoE like Zyra + self Zhonyas effect holy crap just an amazing skill. Together with zhonyas you can engage as a caster and blow your enemies up completely while your team has enough time to catch up.

Skill Order

Priority: R > Q > W > E

Why to pick skills like this is detailed in the skill section above. If you like experiment with it but I'd recommend this way.

Item Builds

Heres a list of viable items with my most used building paths:

Way 1 (mana dependent jungler for e.g. mumu, mao, fiddle,...) Enchantments depending on the situation (homeguard for base defense obviously, in other cases more movespeed to keep spamming cc.)

Instead of tankiness from items you have to rely on your actives + self ult in teamfights. usually those 5-6 seconds are enough to have your team catch up and save you or kill the surviving enemies.

Way 2 (not mana dependent jungler for e.g. nautilus, lee, shy,...)/Enchantments depending on the situation (homeguard for base defense obviously, in other cases more movespeed to keep spamming cc.)

This is my recommended path because I like to burst a whole team. Instead of slightly more AP from Seraphs you get more Magic Penetration. Combined with Sorcs you should nullify the enemies squishys magic resistence completely.

Way 3 (Tanky AP caster for people who like to have sustained damage and play her as a kind of off tank like ryze / galio)//
WotA only combined with Lucidity otherwise Liandris. can be an option if theres just one source of damage and you want to improve the DoT.

I dont recommend this build at all but it can be viable. It just doesnt fit my playstile because I m the player for the big BOOM dmg instead of constant spamming healing and tanking. Ryze players might like this though.

Way 4 (for the rare cases you need to take down their tank line asap)
This is only recommended when you HAVE to instantly burst the fed Irelia. DFG Q auto hit w auto hit ult autohit and q autohit again + E to finish her off or keep the distance. This build relies a lot on your personal ability to auto hit in between skillshots and be able to position correctly. Remember to start your combo with DFG and pull for at least dfg 2times lb and q w ult in that 4 seconds + ignite. should eventually be more then just an overkill but this is probably the best itembuild for the most single target burst choose wisely because you will lack a little bit tankiness and survivability aswell as dmg when it comes to rough aoe numbers.

Items you can consider are: when you play against Swain, Fiddle etc.

for lovers of this item or Athene fan boys :)

one of the best items in the game and probably the best Active ability, cleansing every debuff including exhaust, ignite, malzahar/warwick/skarner/urgot ults, morde ult (so he gets no ghost and his dmg will be reduced by 50% because his ult is split into 2 parts a DoT and a first Nuke.) Consider building QSS against a team with WW skarner etc. Build it always against morde and malza in mid and probably even against Ashe since a 4sec stun arrow from bot lane is making you die against your lane opponent. If you think you can flash dodge those arrows all the time no need but against the other options always build it! Its a better cleanse summoner because it can free you from those suppresses.

Build situationally and DONT always follow a standard route unless you want to end below 1k elo. And i do know players at 500 elo but also at 2.5k elo. If you study the differences or know some by yourself or by watching their streams you will also know a standard build might work most games like 55% but you loose another 45% by getting counterpicked and not adepting.

Always adept to the situation.

And think about red potion if you dont have slots for health pots but only wards. Think about early blue potion giving you CDR (huge stat on Syndra probably the best cause it synergizes with a spamm stile and your ult (more spheres more TONS OF DAMAGE, even if you jungle Syndra :P).

Blut pot is strong to be used be4 dragon / nash fights or if you want to extend your lane dominance, get stronger ganks or if you think you fall behind slightly (enemy got a kill and you not but famr is equal -> he got more gold to be invested into something like 15-20ap, with a blue pot you get the same amount and CDR -> allows you to keep up for 4 minutes by investing less then he got for a kill)

Early Game

Farm and poke. Dont necessarily trade, dodge skillshots and keep track of your enemies behaviour and movement. If he is low on life but suddenly goes in i d cast my e to back off because the jungler will be on your lane in most cases. If he does this to bait you just punish him next time and send him home crying (have wards ready to check if the jungler is there).

Think about roaming and help your jungler at invades. Think in this case means that you have to calculate can you save a mate by skipping some cs -> go. is there a low possibility to get a kill by skipping 1-2 entire waves -> stay the f* on your lane and take the cs. As long as your mates are safe dont just go to try get a kill.

When the enemy laner(s) on top / bot have no summoners and its past 6 / u can get a dive kill without dying AND enemy jungler or mid cant follow up so fast or arent close to that lane -> go for it.

Mid Game

Control your lane, control drag and go and roam. Your big strength is to roam since you have a lot of hard cc and minor cc + big dmg.

Ask where wards are evade them and gank. sometimes you should just run through enemy jungle and dive or gank from behind (depends on the side you are playing on). Also think about unusual or impossible ganking paths which not many champs can use -> your E is a strong utility tool. for example the enemy mid has warded both river sides. you dont know if its right in the mid brushes or defensively at his wraiths + enemy top has a ward at baron pit. Ganking path -> from your blue buff area your E into the small brush (will not show you to the enemy unless he checks that area at that second and sees your claw crawling. wait for cd -> into baron pit at the corner where his ward doesnt give vision. e into the brush close to baron in the enemy jungle -> go and gank from behind. This will let them think you where just back to base cause no one needs 20-30 sec to run up to top. but you waited for cds to be not seen. This is one of the uncommon paths you can take. Be aware that you ll miss at least 2-3 minion waves.

Dragon is key. Here a copied section from my brand guide i m working on:

Mid Game is, when Objectives become a huge impact in the flow of the game. Generally you will define mid game as the stage where the first bigger team fights happen to conquer or steal objects like enemy blue / red or dragon. This is about level 6-7 until the first team is going in full team all time which should be around 20minutes. In general you will have about 10-20minutes where you will be in mid game stage.

During this stage you should obviously compete over dragon and buffs. Wards and counterwards are very important. Try to communicate with your team to ward dragon area and sneak it. If you see the enemy jungler ganking top and the rest of your team is around dragon ping for it and take it. Nothing is as easy as taking a dragon without the fear of getting it smited. You should also go for dragon when you took down mid lane, bot lane or the enemy jungler while you re in the bottom half of the map. If the enemies decide to fight better spam your spells in their direction (and obviously try to hit) to harrass them before a fight breaks out. you should usually position in the dragon pit when you haveflash up because you can escape in 5 directions from there on or even 6 if you risk flashing and running through the enemy team. DONT do this if the enemies are near with galio and zyra or sth like this. selfmurder is not a good thing to consider while fighting.

Whenever you will go for dragon make sure to have asked if you will finish it or if you will turn and focus one of the enemies and if you do that WHOM do you focus! thats important to know because some people think "lets get dragon its only 2k left" and some think "oh sh.t we got to fight now better kill corki" while your tank might think "wtf how shall i protect them and do dragon in the meantime. and why do my carries still hit the dragon ffs". So my advice is: communicate before going for objectives. Nothing is loosing your game faster then not having enough damage to kill them because everybody focussed somebody else and all enemies are at 200 life but all of you are dead.

In the meantime when not going for Teamfights you will have the goal to farm up as much as you can and especially go roam. Lissandra is a strong ganker when you know how to utilize her spells. This will be covered in one of the later chapters and I will give you some infos about it here and there.

Mid game is pretty much the same as early game unless that you will roam more often, take objectives and will have to farm besides doing all this. A good player is a player who has a lot of farm WHILE ganking very often and very unpredictable and also saving objects for your team. You will need a lot of practice on when to roam, and how to farm while roaming.

Late Game

Late game is all about teamfights and objectives.

Usually its after 20 minutes and only seldomly you ll see somebody farming a lane (most likely Genja :P). Most action is around dragon buffs and baron. Get traps for the enemy team and lure them into it to get a free ace while taking nashor and inhibs. Basic stuff. Late game tips are: stay behind your tanks, do not face check brushes unless you know 300% there cant be an enemy. Get oracles for your team and wards. Do not forget to buy wards and use them. Focus the enemy AD if you can or if not the ap. Teamfighting is detailed in the next chapter. (doesnt mean AP carry is the one who has oracles. definetly not. but when your build is full you can get one)

Since in late it is hard to get a kill on an enemy you should try to farm farm farm whenever possible. This means you use your spells to get creeps from a long distance while backing off immediately afterwards to not get picked off. A 5vs4 will usually result in a nashor attempt. So better hope your jungler knows how to smite steal and theirs used it for a wraiths or sth right before. If you are besieging each other try to set up Q E combos on a target which your team can quickly shut down. If you get caught and will for sure die unless god saves you, you should turn and do as much damage as possible while trying to escape afterwards. You might die but at least 2-3 enemies are low on life! they will probably loose a baron fight when they attempt to go for it. So you even helped your team while you died. (though dying is always worse then living and going for a 5vs5 at baron!)

Team Fights

Teamfights are a big point in League of Legends unless your team is going for a pusher combo. If your team is heading for: Sivir, Blitz, Heimer, Yi etc. it would be a good choice to NOT pick Lissandra but something that fits into your combo (like Nasus for e.g.).

But if you dont go for a pusher combo you will have to go for teamfights and will want to force the enemies to fight. This is where Lissandra shines out as a strong Caster in the game with the right setup. Lissandra can be compared to ryze and veigar. Ryze got constant damage + AoE and veigar got huge burst. In fact you got both and all your spells are AoE.

Usually i like to either engage when I see a good opportunity or I play like Master Yi / Akali and do the Cleanup or wait for the right time and position myself so I am able to E W R instantly when i can hit 3-5 targets including hopefully their squishies. Sometimes it's favorable to do the engage (but i think her self ult is bugged cause when I try to use ALT R i still die although the spell animation comes out. Not sure if the invulnerability and untargetability works right maybe some of you have had the same problem. Happens most when I do a fast combo.

Sometimes it is favorable to wait until all the cc is blown and then go in. You'll know how and when to choose to engage with more overall games.

Final Comments

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave comments and rate this guide.

Hope you "stay tuned" and check for updates.

Thanks again and I wish you a lot of fun with Lissandra, the ice queen!

Greetings from Europe

Ironaya / iPlay Nuke

PS: If you have any suggestions concerning this guide or about lissandra and playstile items etc feel free to leave a comment. Every valuably thing will be posted in an extra chapter which I ll call "discussion / player preferences". I m not perfect and my playstile most likely isnt either but I think I have a good overview over the caster role and hope you liked it.

PPS: I'll try to get some small videos from some of my games so you can see it. sadly i myself didnt have lolreplay running while doing some of the more amazing stuff. Hopefully one of my mates had ^^. There's one special penta which i want to show you. It's so short but shows really good positioning and waiting for the opportunity and then a full 5 man 100-0 penta :)

Links

Here i want to post some Links to either homepages of clans or intresting websites to check out.

First of all i want to support a new clan I'm playing in. iPlay is a mainly german multigaming clan and offers a lot of games besides LoL. Playing in the community you will have a lot of people on the TS every day in almost every game we have.

We are updating the homepage and news every day several times. If you want to give it a quick look and check out our streams (live games of pro teams playing in our own tournaments, live games from our own multigaming teams with our own shoutcasting and much more!)

Heres the link: http://team-iplay.de/ (though its a german page some of our events are in english and a lot of people but not all are able to speak english.)

Another thing i want to promote is a tool most of you will probably know. It is the LoL Replay tool. This tiny programm runs in the background while you play and creates lrf files (leagueoflegends replay file) which you can use to review the game. Its having several uses and can be used to see a game from spectator position (when you enable that option) and check out where the enemies where what you could ve done better and what you did well. This tool helped me a lot to improve skill and teamfight attitude + positioning just cause i reviewed and checked what i did and what other options where open. A lot of teams use this tool to review their own matches and improve their teamfight behaviour and teamplay.

As you can see this tool provides a lot of use and i want to support it by linking it here:

www.leaguereplays.com

An often asked question is if this tool is making real videos for 2 gb or sth and the answer is no! the files it creates are just about 5-15mb small per game and you can (and probably should) even delete those files when you dont need them.

Getting the latest LoL news and direct feedback from the riot employees Reddit.com has become probably the major source to get in touch with LoL Players all over the world. IT's funny and there are so many interesting topics that you will see the time go by and think oh i just checked reddit and the 50mins of my maths class is already gone. ty reddit :) so here s the link: